Access to open data ‘where the world is heading’

CoreLogic’s Lisa Claes recently told Mortgage Business' On the Record that the opening of access to data was about “discerning trends, patterns and comparabilities” that could prove useful in producing “better outcomes for the customer”.

She added that while the opening of access could provide “enormous benefit” to the financial services, people needed to be mindful in the debate about open data in order to distinguish between “macro-level depersonalised anonymous data” and customer level data which “needs to be respected for privacy and regulatory reasons”.

Ms Claes noted there were many instances where the sharing of data — including the information shared between the banks — was in the interests of consumers.

“A good example of where open data and the sharing of data – particularly between banks – will further the interests of customers and manufacturers alike, is in comprehensive credit reporting,” she explained.

“I think if you use that as one example of many that has a positive, constructive impact on financial ecosystems, you can see the regulator [and] the government saying ‘this is a good thing’.

“[T]hat can be incredibly useful when you’re able to see an ecosystem of data – that’s when you get the stimulus to be predictive, and be predictive for better outcomes for the customer.

“I’d like to think that… we can move down that path, paying respect, of course, to privacy and security as well,” she added.

Ms Claes continued to say that the bottom line in data sharing was all about “how you use, marry and align [data] to a customer’s strategic appetite”, which would in turn provide the competitive differentiator within financial services.

“Looking at comparable jurisdictions… the trend and the appetite for more open and fluid sharing of data with the right safeguards in place is definitely where the world is heading,” she concluded.

[Related: APRA taps banks for more mortgage data]